Rear Half of Roll Cage Fitted

The previously made template was used to accurately mark out where the holes needed to be cut for the rear bracing tubes.  A hole saw and a curved file were used for this.

What I hadn't appreciated was that these bracing tubes were at a slight angle.  Meaning that the holes had to be widened to get the ends through, before the rear half of the cage could be lowered in to place.  Covers will need to be made for these.  Probably out of aluminium sheet sprayed white.

The feet were then bolted on to the bracing tubes and holes drilled in the rear of the chassis to accommodate the fixing bolts.  All in all not too bad a fit, the fabrication tolerances probably within a few millimetres.

Luckily the off-side bracing tube clears the fuel filler by about 10mm and also the filler pipe below.  Phew!  That was a close call.

After fitting I tried to get in the boot.  Oh dear, we have a problem.  Looks like the boot on the Avon Mk2 bodywork will only open to about 45 degrees with the roll cage fitted.  Never mind, access is still pretty good.

Next on to the front half of the roll cage...

Fitting the Boot Lid

The Mark 2 Avon body tub comes with a boot.  This is a welcome improvement on the original design.  As part of the body work kit the boot lid is provided.  However, this requires quite a bit of manual work to fit it.

As supplied the boot lid has quite an uneven edge - I assume where it has been cut out of the mould.  First up was to trim the edge down to an even 20mm depth.

The lid still seemed to catch slightly when fitted in the boot.  I thought about trimming more off (as it is at a shallow angle it would have made the overall dimensions smaller).  In the end I decided not to trim any more and see how I got on - I've cut too much off things before!

Next I cut slots for 25mm chrome hinges.  I used a small drill and a needle file to create the slots so that one half of the hinge would sit flat on the inside surface of the lid top.

  

Grip Fill used to 'glue' the hinges into the lid.  The other half riveted to the body tub.

Cam lock bought of eBay fitted.  Dog leg added to locking arm to ensure the arm cleared the lip of the boot lid.

Blu tak used to gauge where the locking arm strikes the rear inside of the boot cavity.  Of course all the while making sure the boot lid was flush with the upper surface of the rear body tub.  A slot was cut for the locking arm.  Later on I'll make a aluminium surround to finish it off better and protect the rough fibreglass edges.

Tiger advised me to add some 'stops' inside the boot to stop the boot lid going in too far, e.g. if somebody leaned on it.  At this point I found the the boot lid would not quite sit flat.  When locked one corner was raised a few milometers.  If this was pressed down the other corner would pop up!  I needed something to hold the corners down.  I came up with the idea of magnetic cupboard fasteners screwed into the corners.  These double up as 'stops' and also hold the corners down.  After a few days the boot lid settled a lot anyway and the magnetic part is almost not needed.

The other half of the magnetic set up was glued to the inside of the boot lid lip using epoxy resin.

Finished boot.  I may add a third, central, hinge at a later date to add a bit more support.  The lid opens nicely  and the lock locates relatively easily.  When I find some I may add a small piece of black automotive carpet to the floor of the boot.  Will stop things sliding around and look better.